I'm sure there are tons of different types of knee pains. The one I have started with my knee giving out about a year ago. Now it's generally fine, and nearly only hurts when I climb stairs (or Mount Katahdin, which is where I think I injured it).

The pain is on the outside of my right knee, slightly toward the front.

I started running again and after a couple weeks the pain subsided a little. I'm going to Italy next week for some hiking/climbing, and am worried about it.

I'm no expert, but heard my left mcl pop in a hyperflexing five years ago, and last year badly twisted the right descending. Best advice (OT sister with PT knowledge) I've had is to build up the muscles as much as possible: leg presses, extensions and curls, walking, hiking with whatever at this point is reasonable weight. Plus LOTS of stretching, including knee stretches--leg straight out on a counter, and aim to get the knee fully straightened in that position, leg as near as possible to horizontal, back vertical.

I had struggled for years with Patella Tendonitis. I had to completely rest it until normal day to day activities didn't irritate it. Then I started from scratch with strength training as an above user mentioned. The primary cause of tendon injuries from a non trauma impact is lack of necessary muscle development. This also means stabilizer muscles such as hip flexors and minor extendor muscles used in leg raises that traditionally get thought of as "girl exercises". I now have zero pain in anything I do. Doc said the primary cause was that I was sedentary for a number of years and then went back at it too hard without getting my muscles back into shape to handle it.

aglane wrote:I'm no expert, but heard my left mcl pop in a hyperflexing five years ago, and last year badly twisted the right descending. Best advice (OT sister with PT knowledge) I've had is to build up the muscles as much as possible: leg presses, extensions and curls, walking, hiking with whatever at this point is reasonable weight. Plus LOTS of stretching, including knee stretches--leg straight out on a counter, and aim to get the knee fully straightened in that position, leg as near as possible to horizontal, back vertical.

Hoping for Dolomites in 2014 so I hear your concern all the more ;<}

Although I know that it isn't the same for everyone, I have the same experience with keeping muscles strong. I have damaged both knees through skiing and various falls over the last 50+ years. If I do not keep my legs strong, I have to walk sideways down stairs because of the pain in my knees. On the other hand, when I run and bike a lot, my knees don't bother me. I regularly run trails, including downhills, without any problem. If I go a month without working out, I am back to being a cripple. (When I run downhill, I take short steps and keep my legs bent to avoid shock on my knees.)

I have a similar situation. My left knee is tender, and does not hurt the least bit except when walking uphill. I can palpate the actual location where it hurts, so I suspect I strained the ligament a small amount. For me, it's just an inconvenience, but a reminder to pay attention to these things that I have taken for granted.

I think I fatigued it on a long day hike (18 miles) then placed some stress on it, and that's where the pain started. I have forced myself into downtime for the last month and the pain is nearly gone.

In the meantime, I have performed basic strength-training exercises on it at the gym, such as the seated leg-press using a fairly light weight. A week of that, and I saw a lot of improvement, in both the residual pain and the movement.

If you are feeling "jolts" of pain, even if only when assuming certain positions, then you have something much more insidious. Ages ago I partially tore my MCL. I could walk on it no problem, but if I pivoted on it, I nearly fell over in pain. That's much different than the occasional residual pain that might indicate a small strain.

I had a very similar problem when I was about 22. My partner and I were going to attempt Black Kaweah via the HST. We camped the first night near Hamilton Lake (about 18 miles from the TH) and I woke up that second day with a nagging pain in my right knee. Like yours, that pain was also centered on the outside of the joint. There was a distinct and painful 'clicking' sensation every time I bent it.

Though painful, it didn't seem too debilitating so we decided to continue on hoping that it could be 'walked off'. That strategy proved to be wrong, however, and I called a halt when we reached Precipice Lake. It was just too painful to continue. We camped there for a couple of days to rest it and then hiked 20 miles all the way back out to the trail head- surely one of the worst days I ever had in the Sierra.

When I got home, I looked up 'Tendinitis' in my brand new copy of Wilkerson's, "Medicine For Mountaineering" and found it was almost an exact match for my symptoms. Treatment called for warm moist heat therapy and stretching (to prevent chronic stiffening of the joint). I followed this procedure and five weeks later, my partner and I were able to make an attempt on Shasta which involved 7000 feet of climbing- all without any knee pain. In fact, to this day, I've never had that particular problem again.

Years later, we realized that my knee problem may have saved our lives. We were way too inexperienced to be messing with a peak like Black Kaweah.